RESOURCES

The $5000 an Hour Escort Agency That Brought Down a Governor



An international elite escort agency that attracted wealthy clients via a website that rated its ladies on a scale of “diamonds” was shut down by federal agents. The operators of the New York-based Emperors Club were charged in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.


The New York Times reported
“Federal authorities arrested four people Thursday on charges of running an online prostitution ring that serviced clients in New York, Paris and other cities and took in more than $1 million in profits over four years.The ring, known as the Emperor's Club V.I.P., had 50 prostitutes available for appointments in New York, Washington, Miami, London and Paris, according to a complaint unsealed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The appointments, made by telephone or through an online booking service, cost $1,000 to $5,500 [scroll down for fee page] an hour and could be paid for with cash, credit card, wire transfers or money orders, the complaint said.”

The New York Sun reported how the agency was managed and why wire transfers from former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer brought it down:
“Several phone numbers associated with Emperors Club have been under surveillance by the FBI, which intercepted more than 5,000 telephone calls and text messages during the investigation, according to court documents.
Excerpts of those intercepted calls, provided in court documents, offer a window onto some of the managerial challenges that confronted the four defendants who allegedly managed the operation. In them, the managers discuss how some of the Emperor Club prostitutes had difficulty taking imprints of their clients' American Express cards, making it difficult to charge them. Prostitutes weren't always punctual in arriving at their engagements. There were scheduling conflicts to resolve caused by the photo shoots of the women who modelled during the day. And clients called in wanting to know what they should tell their accountants about the expenses they were racking up with the Emperors Club.”